Missouri Botanical Gardens

You may already be well aware of my obsession with the Missouri Botanical Gardens, but gear up for another dose of my geeking out about it. Not only did I recently renew my membership in preparation for the 2014 Garden season, but I finally got the chance to participate in an event that has long intrigued me – the Whitaker Music Festival!

The Whitaker Music Festival takes place Wednesday evenings during the summer, and it’s unique because the Garden both waives its normal admission fee for the night and allows picnic-ing. (There were even food trucks parked in the garden!) The Festival always brings a diverse lineup of groups, from country to folk to blues, and this past week was no different. I met up with my friend to see “Victor and Penny”, who categorized their genre as “antique pop”. Now, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from that, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised!

It turned out to be a charming set of bluesy, ragtime, music that embodied the early 20th century. I loved it! There was a stand up bass and vintage ukelele present as well, which only added to the ambiance of the evening. It went from about 7:30 to 9:30, although people were free to come and go as they pleased. All in all things were very laid-back and relaxed.

Speaking of relaxed, I naturally had to stop by and zen out at my favorite part of the Gardens (and possibly St. Louis) – the Japanese Garden:

So don’t wait! You still have July 17, July 24, July 31, and August 7 to check out the Festival. Come by and have a listen! And if you decide to become a impassioned Garden member like I am…. so much the better.

This Thursday, April 18th, is the 3rd annual Environmental Fair! It will be happening from 11-2, in the meadow (weather permitting) or in the AMC of Medaille Hall! To remind you all how awesome the fair is, I’ll show you some pictures from last year.

I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the fact that we’re, what?, a week past the halfway mark of the semester? The sheer amount of stuff I’ve learned in the past eight weeks is kind of really mind-blowing.

I’ve learned, for example, what a derivative is. I’ve learned how to take the derivative of the aforementioned derivative. I’ve been reading all about GMO foods for a book report that I’m doing for my evolution class. I’ve learnt about the Michaelis-Menten equation and its graphs. I’ve learned some really, really fun words, including, but not limited to, glycosylphosphatidylinositol (try saying that one five times fast. Heck, try saying it at all. I dare you.). I’ve revisited some old friends from general chemistry that I really should be a master at, but actually kind of suck at (but it’s okay, because I think we all have come to the agreement that we all suck at these things and should probably retake gen chem. as a result), including acid-base chemistry, the pH scale, and pka; kinetics; and thermodynamics. Yes, if I haven’t pulled this analogy on my blog yet, I’m doing it now:

My mind is like a supersaturated solution: one more particle of information, and everything will crystallize out of solution.

(Yes, it’s nice to know that the concept of solubility is not above my level of comprehension and that I can make such analogies as a result.)

In addition to lots of learning going on, things have been picking up speed at the Botanical Garden, where I’m currently an intern. A classmate (who is also a dietetics drop-out) and I are in charge of designing seven display cases in the Brookings Interpretive Center. Hey, no pressure, right? I think we did a fine job, and tomorrow we get to start putting them together. I highly recommend you go to the Garden this spring and check out Brookings…it’s going to be awesome when we get it flipped to fit the Garden’s “Foodology” theme! Plus, something tells me the Garden is spectacular in spring…

Anyhow, I hope everyone else’s semester is going smoothly as well! I’m feeling at home in my new department, and I think I know what I want to do with my life. I would say what it is, but it’ll be different next week or month or whatever, so I’ll refrain from doing so.

Have a great weekend everyone! And remember: spring break is almost here.

As I may have mentioned before – or if I haven’t, I’m about to start – every year the Environmental Club puts on an “Environmental Fair” to help educate the community about various eco-friendly/green businesses and organizations in St. Louis. In the past, we’ve featured organic/local food, the Fontbonne garden, endangered animals, electronic recycling, second-hand clothing, upcycled jewelry, and lots of other cool stuff. I’m working on putting together the fair for this year, and I found a new place that I’m super excited about: Rosemary Grove.

Rosemary Grove is a store/website that focuses on selling only Fair Trade items. What does that mean? Fair Trade is a guarantee that no matter where in the world the item was produced, the workers involved got paid fairly, had good working conditions, and the planet wasn’t harmed by its production – it’s like the antithesis of a sweatshop. I’m so pleased that they will have a table at the fair!

And even better, the Environmental Club is partnering with Rosemary Grove as an “Advocate”. This means that whenever someone shops there and mentions us, we’ll get 10% of the sale, the proceeds of which we’ve decided to donate to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Here’s a link to the website, where you can find our club on their list! http://www.rosemarygrove-online.com/pages/rg-advocates

There is also an in-store shopping event in the works for early April, so stay tuned for that as well!

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Something that I have come to love about Fontbonne is its Dedicated Semester every Fall Semester. The Dedicated Semester is something fairly unique to Fontbonne and features a broad topic that gives the Fontbonne Community a chance to learn about and discuss the topic through various classes, activities, and events. This year’s Dedicated Semester is […]

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Hi everyone! My name is Courtney and I am a Junior studying dietetics here at Fontbonne . I am hoping to eventually work in pediatrics or with athletes. I am currently Secretary of SAFCS. I love running, walking my dogs, cheering on the Cardinals, and finding new adventures around St. Louis. I can't wait to share my adventures with you!

I graduated from Fontbonne in 2012 with a BA in Human Service and am currently a grad student once again at Fontbonne studying for my MS in Instructional Design & Technology (IDT). I'm a mother of 2 wonderful young men ages 17 years & 15 years old. I love working as an independent contracting sign language interpreter/job coach and I look forward to embarking on my new journey within the career field of IDT.

Hello everyone, I am Quortni (pronounced like Courtney). I am a Junior at Fontbonne and also a transfer student from Indiana State University. This is my second semester at Fontbonne and although I attended ISU for almost 3 years, I was born and raised here in Saint Louis, Mo. I am a Psychology major and a Biology minor, and hoping to pursue a career in research as well as become a practicing Art Therapist. I am pretty outgoing and open to making new friends and meeting new people, so I am VERY excited to be blogging for the University so stay tuned!!! :)